


To Save the Hulk

by TMar



Category: Quantum Leap, The Incredible Hulk (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 07:48:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16363802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TMar/pseuds/TMar
Summary: Sam Beckett leaps into Dr. David Banner from the Incredible Hulk TV series and saves his life.





	To Save the Hulk

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in 1994 for the personal, private amusement of the author. I never even intended to post it anywhere, but what the hell.
> 
> For those who are not familiar with the Hulk TV series, it owes more to the formats of Les Miserables and The Fugitive than it does to the Marvel comics. 
> 
> Despite what has been widely reported on the Net, Kenneth Johnson, who developed the series for television, did NOT change Banner's name because it sounded gay. He changed it because he is not fond of alliterative names. Thus, the character is called "David" in this story, not "Bruce" ("Bruce" is still his middle name in the TV series).  
> This story will not make much sense if you have not seen the final Hulk TV movie, "The Death of the Incredible Hulk".

When Sam became aware of his surroundings, he noticed that he was in  
a forest, and it was raining. He was used to leaping in during  
strange circumstances, so it wasn't really a surprise, but when he  
looked down at himself he saw that he was only wearing a pair of torn  
pants and nothing else. He was also in the middle of nowhere, by the  
looks of things. 

His first instinct was to call for Al, but Al couldn't possibly  
have had a chance to lock into his brainwaves already, so he decided  
that his next priority was to get out of the rain. Choosing a  
direction, he started walking, not at all pleased to be in the rain,  
but he had been in worse predicaments, after all.

After a mile or so he noticed a light, and followed it, straight  
to a lone cabin, which to him looked like a haven of safety... or at  
least dryness. As he walked towards it, the door opened and a female  
form rushed out of it and came towards him. "David!" She enveloped  
him in a hug, and all Sam could see of her was some short-cropped  
hair and perfect skin. 

She hustled him inside in a hurry, gave him a towel and a change  
of clothes, made him eat something, and asked him if he remembered  
anything.

"Not really..." he hedged.

"I was worried that you would run off and leave, and that I  
wouldn't be able to thank you."

"Thank me?"

"For saving me. And for saving Doctor Pratt. I know it was what  
you said that made the difference, I just know it. I'm glad you  
didn't leave."

"I... had nowhere else to go," said Sam, mentally crossing his  
fingers.

The woman, who it had turned out was exquisitely beautiful,  
snuggled closer to him. "I know. The cause I fought for no longer  
exists, at least not in the way I thought it did. And you... do you  
think Doctor Pratt will be able to cure you?"

"I don't know," said Sam, wondering what in the world he'd  
leaped into this time. Causes to be fought for? Cures? Doctors? What  
next? But the woman had expected him to say he didn't know,  
obviously, and continued. "Maybe he shouldn't cure you, David.  
Maybe... you're meant to stay this way. I saw you... you were  
beautiful. Maybe you become the best in us, not the worst. Maybe you  
become a knight in shining armour, like... King Arthur's knight, from  
the legends."

"Lancelot," supplied Sam. "And... maybe not," he said, inferring  
from the way she was talking that David - the real David - probably  
did NOT agree with her assessment of whatever situation this was.

"But maybe... maybe I'm right." She turned her head and looked  
up at him. "Don't be afraid to hold me."

"I... I don't think..." began Sam, but she put her fingers to  
his lips to silence him, and kissed him. "It's okay," she whispered.  
"We're only dreaming." And some part of him, the part that was still  
David; the part of David that had been left, that residual, had  
waited so long for this, that he couldn't resist kissing her back... 

...And giving her all the love she craved, all she wanted from  
David... whoever he was. Sam was caught up in something he didn't  
quite comprehend, but she was here, and she wanted to be with him,  
and that was enough.

***

Al stepped through the Imaging Chamber door already in mid-sentence.  
"...this guy in the Waiting Room is... holy cow!" Then Al smiled,  
thinking that Sam's halo was slipping ever so slightly, opened the  
door again, and stepped back into 1999. "Gushie, I think we'll wait  
a while."

"Why, Admiral."

"Uh... Sam's busy at the moment."

"Busy? What...? Oh," said Gushie, suddenly realising. "Admiral,  
maybe you'd better wake Doctor Beeks. The patient in the Waiting Room  
is getting restless."

"No, not quite yet. Have you found out anything about him?" That  
question he addressed to the globe near the ceiling.

"No, Admiral," came a pleasant if somewhat sarcastic female  
voice. "I cannot find the name he gave in any of my databases, so I  
would surmise that it's a false name."

"Fingerprints?"

"None on file, Admiral, sorry."

"Okay, I'll go talk to him again." Al stepped through and went  
into the Waiting Room, where he found the man looking about him  
nervously.

"Okay, let's try this again, shall we? What's your real name?"

"Look, I haven't done anything. Please, let me go."

"Uh... sorry. It's not up to us. But the sooner you tell us who  
you really are, the sooner you'll get back to where you came from."

"I did tell you."

"We checked. We can't find any mention of you."

"Then that's your mistake."

"Our computer doesn't make mistakes... okay, not mistakes like  
that, anyway. Your name is NOT David Bellamy because, believe me, we  
checked."

"Where's Jasmin?"

"Who?"

"Never mind. Please, just let me go."

"We can't, David. Not that we don't want to, we just can't.  
Okay. Let's try something else. I'll tell you something about me, you  
tell me something about you, how's that?"

"Like what?"

"Like my name. I'm Admiral Albert Calavicci, Rear Admiral of the  
U.S. Navy."

"I told you...."

"Yeah. You think we've kidnapped you. At least you don't think  
we're space aliens." Al smiled. Most leapees did think they'd been  
kidnapped by aliens. 

"I didn't do anything."

"Okay, look. You've sort-of gotten caught up in a top-secret  
experiment, Project Quantum Leap. One of our people is where you  
would normally be, trying to determine what went wrong in your life  
or the life of someone around you so that he can fix it! We're trying  
to help you! Okay?"

David had gotten used to assessing people quickly, and he  
suddenly saw that Al was telling the truth. It was strange to be on  
the receiving end of help for a change. He sighed a long, cleansing  
sigh. "I'm Doctor David Banner."

"You're kidding!" exclaimed Al. "You're the guy that  
experimented with radiation as a means to get super-strength?"

"You've heard of me?"

"Well, some of your stuff is required reading at M.I.T., but  
mostly I heard about you from my friend, Sam Beckett."

David had been on the road too long, and his field was too  
different, to know who Sam was. "What does he do?"

"He's a quantum physicist. He designed Project Quantum Leap. But  
he used himself as a guinea pig, and now he's stuck out there in  
time."

David smiled. "He lost control of his experiment."

"Yeah."

"So did I."

***

In the morning, Sam got up early, left a note for Jasmin, and took  
a walk. He hoped that Al would show up to explain where he was, and,  
more importantly, WHO. Which Al did. "Morning, Sam."

"Al. Where did you disappear to last night?"

"Well correct me if I'm wrong, but you looked a little busy last  
night. I didn't wanna interrupt."

"Thanks, Al."

"Yeah." Al gave the handlink a cursory whack. "Okay. It's 1990.  
You've leaped into Doctor David Banner."

"That's not possible, Al. David Banner died in the Seventies."

"Trust me, Sam. You've leaped into this guy. He says he  
performed an experiment on himself and it went wrong."

"He lost control?"

"Yeah."

"Too bad he didn't warn me, huh?" Sam smiled wistfully, and Al  
knew that inside empathy had suddenly welled up. Sam Beckett knew  
what it was to walk a mile in this guy's moccasins.

"Now, he says, he turns into this green creature whenever he  
gets angry or upset."

"You mean the Hulk."

"Yeah." The admiral rubbed his face. "Oh, boy. This one sounds  
too wild to be true. Now here's what he doesn't know. Tonight he  
turns into the Hulk trying to rescue a woman - unnamed in the police  
files but he said her name is Jasmin - on an airfield. He climbs onto  
a plane, the plane blows up, goodbye Hulk, goodbye David. Apparently  
he and Jasmin were trying to rescue a Doctor Ronald Pratt and his  
wife from a fanatical group."

"So I'm here to make sure they survive?"

"Well, Doctor Pratt, his wife and Jasmin all did survive. David  
Banner died."

"So I'm here to save them and me?"

"Yeah."

***

When Sam returned to the cabin, Jasmin was pacing up and down.  
"David, let's go away somewhere. I don't care where. Tell me we can  
go away together and be happy."

Sam looked at Al. "Humour her, Sam."

"All right. Where would you like to go?"

"I don't care. Let's just get going. Please?"

Jasmin was too nervous for it to just be her eagerness to get  
away. Sam took her by the shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"They kidnapped Doctor Pratt and Amy. It was on the radio."

"I know where they're holding them, Sam. If you go now, it'll  
take them by surprise, and more important, you'll be changing  
history."

"We must go and get them," Sam said, and Jasmin's face fell. "I  
know. We can wait until dark and then I'll help you."

"No. We must go now."

"But we don't know where they're keeping them." She sighed,  
squared her shoulders. "But I know how to find out."

"No, we don't have time for that. I know where they are."

"You...? How?"

Sam looked at Al, who was quick enough to improvise. "Uh... tell  
her that you heard someone mention it when they tried to kidnap you  
the other night."

"When they tried to kidnap me... someone mentioned it." He  
looked at Al. 

"Huh? Oh... the airfield. It's just a couple of miles from here.  
Take you fifteen minutes by car."

Sam turned to Jasmin. "They're holding them at an airfield. I  
know where it is."

Jasmin put her arms around him, as if to take strength from  
him... which was odd because she was usually the strong one. But  
somehow, with him, she wasn't strong. She felt vulnerable when she  
was with him. Maybe... maybe it was love.

"We must go now, Jasmin," said Sam.

"I know. All right, let's go."

***

They stopped the car a little way from the airport, and hid behind  
some barrels on the outskirts of the airfield. "I'll create a  
diversion, you get the doctor and his wife," said Jasmin.

"No, Sam!" yelled Al, appearing suddenly in front of the pair.  
"That's what happened last time. That's how you, I mean David, died!  
You have to think of another way."

Sam looked at Jasmin. "I don't think so. I wish we had some  
HELP," he said loudly, to cue Al.

"Yeah, yeah," responded the hologram. "Gushie, centre me on  
Doctor Pratt!" Al winked out, and Sam relaxed visibly.

"Why are we just sitting here?" asked Jasmin. She was not used  
to sitting around waiting.

"I'm trying to think of a better plan," said Sam.

"There isn't one. If you want to save the doctor, let me help  
you!"

Sam grabbed her by the shoulders. "Jasmin! Just calm down, okay?  
Trust me, I'll find a way."

Jasmin stared into Sam's face then... the face she saw as David  
Banner's. "Your eyes..." she began, but Al's appearance distracted  
Sam.

"They're in the back room. There's a window on the side of the  
building where you could get in, get them out and get going. We just  
need a little distraction so that when you take them out, nobody is  
looking."

Sam had to talk to Al. "Jasmin can't do it," he said.

"What?" asked Jasmin.

"Ziggy agrees with you," nodded Al. He looked around. "Dogs!  
They have some. It's perfect. I'll distract the dogs, you get the  
doctor!"

"Are you sure it'll work?"

"'Course it'll work. You ever doubt me?"

"Al..." rumbled Sam. He noted the way Jasmin was looking at him,  
but he didn't have time to worry about that now. "Jasmin, you get the  
car, I'll go in the side of the building and get Doctor Pratt and  
Amy. We'll come out of... that window, there." He pointed. 

"David, what's happened to you? You seem... different."

"I don't have time to explain that, okay? Just promise me you'll  
do exactly what I told you."

Jasmin squared her shoulders. "All right."

Sam waited by the window until he heard a huge commotion punctuated  
by furiously barking dogs. Then he tapped on the window, and Amy  
opened it. "David!"

Sam climbed into the room. All the guards were running away from  
their position, but Ronald Pratt didn't look too good. "Do you think  
you can make it?" Sam asked him.

"I'll make it, I'll make it."

"Quickly!" Sam helped Amy out first, and then the doctor, just  
in time for the car which sped up, Jasmin at the wheel. She reached  
over and opened the door. "Get in!"

Doctor Pratt, Amy and Sam all quickly piled in, and Jasmin swung  
the car around, heading out of the airfield.

It had all happened in less than three minutes. Sam was smiling.  
"We did it!" he said to them.

"You risked your life, David," said Doctor Pratt.

"I saved you, that's what matters," replied Sam, knowing that  
the person he had saved was not even in the same year as him. He  
turned to Jasmin. "Now, we call the cops."

Al turned up just as they reached the doctor's house. Sam, luckily,  
was in the kitchen making coffee for all of them. "Where did you get  
to?" he asked Al.

"It was kinda fun keeping those dogs entertained. I had 'em  
running in circles. Beautiful animals, Sam. I knew this girl once who  
bred these..."

"Al!"

"Oh. Yeah. Uh... I suppose you wanna know why you haven't leaped  
yet?"

"Yeah I wanna know why I haven't leaped yet! I saved the doctor,  
called the cops... what else is there to do?"

Al whacked the hand link. "Ziggy says this terrorist group gets  
deported. They let Jasmin stay but she disappears ten days from now.  
No one ever sees her again."

"Yeah." Sam wasn't surprised. "She's one of those people who  
changes her identity. What about Ronald and Amy Pratt?"

"Oh, they're fine. Ronald actually comes up with a prototype  
formula to release the body's natural healing powers. It isn't fully  
tested yet, even in our time, but Ziggy says it'll pass."

"And David Banner?"

"Don't know. Ziggy still has him listed as dying in a lab fire  
in 1977."

"Al, there must be some information somewhere that can tell us  
what happened." Sam didn't see Jasmin standing in the doorway.

"Who's Al?" she asked.

"Uh..."

"What's going on? You're not David."

Sam sighed. "No, I'm not. I'm Sam Beckett. I'm here to put right  
what went wrong in David's life."

Jasmin sighed, looked at the floor. "Normally I wouldn't believe  
it, but after seeing you... David, I mean... change into that... that  
creature, I think it probably is true."

Sam looked at Al. "Al?" He turned to Jasmin. "Al is my link to  
my own time. He's a hologram tuned into my brainwaves, that's why you  
can't see him."

Jasmin smiled politely, having obviously decided not to ask  
questions.

"I'm checking, Sam. The Hulk is seen in... oh, twenty or so  
cities after this. Then he disappears."

"Check death records for anyone fitting David Banner's  
description."

Al punched buttons on the hand link. "Nope, not in the last  
location the Hulk was seen. The last place, however, was at a  
research hospital where they were doing extensive tests with  
radiation therapy. Ziggy says there's an 87.2% chance that David  
Banner found a cure."

"But he didn't tell the world about it?"

"Ziggy says no."

"Why am I still here?"

Al looked at Jasmin. "Maybe she's the reason."

"I need more information, Al."

Al consulted the hand link. "Ziggy thinks that David Banner  
should stay with her, or she should stay with him."

Sam turned to Jasmin. "What will you do now?"

"I don't know. Move on, I guess. My work here is done."

Sam smiled to himself; that was his line. "Don't you love  
David?"

"I think so, but I don't think he needs me."

"I think he does. I think he loves you, but he doesn't want you  
to have to travel around with him."

"I do that anyway." Hope came into her eyes. "Maybe... maybe we  
could do it together."

"It's worth a shot," said Sam. "And... he will be cured  
someday."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I can see the future," Sam informed her, kissing her forehead.  
He didn't even notice Al wink out.

***

"Okay, David, get ready to leap," Al said to the man in the Waiting  
Room.

"Sam saved Jasmin and Ronald?"

"Yeah. He told Jasmin he wasn't you, though, so you won't have  
to pretend when you get back."

"Okay." 

Al turned to leave. "I have to be ready when Sam leaps."

"Al..."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks. Can you tell me something, though?"

"Sure, what?"

"Will it ever be over?"

"I think so," said Al as the Waiting Room door slid shut.

And in the Pratts' house, Sam was sitting on the couch with Jasmin  
discussing what had happened with Ronald and Amy, when he felt the  
Leap approaching. He squeezed Jasmin's hand...

... and Leaped. 

David Banner found himself back with the Pratts, and with this woman  
that he cared for, her hand in his. He smiled with happiness, and  
somehow found himself unable to resist uttering the phrase that was  
echoing in his head. It described how he felt perfectly. "Oh, boy."

THE END


End file.
